How many roads?

Last week on the train, the "train manager" managed to hit me in the head with her ticket-punchy-thing after checking my ticket. She really wasn't having a good day, as she also said we were in Milton Keynes when we were in Stockport, and told us we were arriving at London Euston instead of Manchester Piccadilly.

Of course, she was very, very apologetic, and seemed upset because she thought I wouldn't travel with them again again. I suppose I might avoid an airline if they had particualrly bad service and there were other flights I could take instead, but should I really take an extra hour or so and go via York to get to Manchester? Should I just avoid route 7, or all Virgin trains, and take the slow Silverlink service to get to Birmingham?

Not having a car or a driving licence, driving would be quite impractical, even if it weren't slower than the train. Walking might be enjoyable, but it would take a bit longer than I'd like. If I did walk, however, I'd like to find a nice route along canals, not walk down the middle of the road like the woman I saw this morning. I don't know what she thought she was doing, but she definitely didn't impress the drivers. Vehicles have enough trouble passing each other on that stretch, without trhowing pedestrians into the mix!